Rick Figurin
pigskinpress.com
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Overrated Conferences
The ACC-The Big East gets a lot of heat for their mediocre gameplay and inability to win bowl games, but the ACC is not much better. The conference is 13-21 in bowl games over the past four seasons, and they have suffered non-conference loses to teams such as James Madison, Kansas, Richmond and Middle Tennessee. This conference is in a world of hurt if the SEC prys away Florida State in the near future.
The Big 10-This conference has everything going for it; so why have they not been able to muster a national champion since Ohio State in 2002? And before that it was Penn State winning in 1986! A lot of hype for a conference that isn’t churning out football championships.
Underrated Conferences
The Mountain West-It would be hard to find anyone who disagrees with this, except for the BCS! The MWC has produced four teams to bust the BCS, and while those teams have departed, this year they add Boise who has done it twice, and next year Hawaii who also has been on the big stage. Say what you will about how much the departures of Utah, BYU, and TCU mean, but having only one true powerhouse will probably still land a BCS bowl game in the conferences lap every third year or so.
C-USA-Conference USA has the same problem that the MWC has-they’re top heavy! That being said, the top dogs in C-USA have really stepped up in recent years. UCF had a great 2010, and ECU and Houston have both flirted with the national spotlight in recent years. The 2011 edition of C-USA will be its best, and most competitive, top to bottom, in conference history.
Overrated Teams
Texas A&M-The Aggies are good, but not THAT good. Last season, the Aggies had a nice win over #11 Oklahoma, but other than that, pretty standard. I know it’s a big deal anytime A&M can beat rival Texas, but the Longhorns stunk in 2010 and Nebraska was overrated. Congrats on the improvement, but you haven’t arrived just yet. Wait till you try to arrive in the SEC..good luck with that!
Boise State-We love Boise State, but this team is going to struggle with the tougher part of their schedule early in the season. Not only will Georgia beat Boise to start the season, but Toledo and Tulsa could give them all they can handle. Boise will still win the MWC, but let’s face it nobody is immune from rebuilding and this is their year to let go of a BCS busting dream.
Underrated Teams
Tulsa-As mentioned above, the Golden Hurricane could be the real deal in 2011. Tulsa has a brutal non-conference schedule, but this team is good enough to burn somebody. Whether it be Boise, Oklahoma, or Oklahoma State it will be hard to stop an offense with 10 returning starters on offense including former Texas QB GJ Kinne. Tulsa averaged 41 ppg, and beat Notre Dame in South Bend while winning their last seven games. It won’t look pretty at times on paper, but If Damaris Johnson returns sooner rather than later, Tulsa is really ‘gonna screw somebody’s season up with an upset or two!
Wisconsin-The Badgers got an instant boost at QB when Russel Wilson decided to spend his senior season in Madison! With the departure of Terell Pryor at OSU, Wilson’s mobility and decision making give the Badgers that “umph” to bring home a Big 10 title. If the Badgers can be a little more consistent against the pass, and actually get to the opposing QB, you could have a sleeper national championship contender on your hands.
Overrated QB’s
Taylor Martinez-Nebraska-So what makes Martinez great? He runs the ball really, really well but so do most running backs and receivers! Martinez doesn’t pass well as evidenced by his 1631 yds/10 td’s/7 int’s. He fumbles too much and his decision making is very questionable at times. The sophomore may be a good QB by the time he graduates, but to mention him as a Heisman candidate at this point is ludicrous!
Nick Foles-Arizona-Foles is good, but to listen to some of the talking heads on the boob-tube, you would think the guy is the second coming of Jim Plunkett! Foles has the mobility of Al Gore, and is able to achieve his 67% completion rate through a lot of short/safe passes. Oh, and those long bombs to WR Juron Criner? The credit mostly goes to Criner; if you don’t believe me, watch some games from last season.
Underrated QB’s
Chandler Harnish-NIU-Harnish was terrific last season as he quietly led NIU to a school record 11-3. Aside from 2500+ passing yards, Harnish rushed for another 836 and 7tds! Before you accuse him of having all of his success against poor competition, consider that in NIU’s two road games against Big 10 teams, Harnish completed 71% of his passes for 291 yards/2tds and ran for 124 and a touchdown. Not too shabby!
Dan Persa-Northwestern-Staying in the land of Lincoln, it’s no surprise that Northwestern is pushing QB Dan Persa as a Heisman candidate. The Senior QB is the model of efficiency! Completeing 74% of his passes in 2010, Persa led the Wildcats to a spot in the TicketCity.com bowl and had 9 rushing tds as well. The Wildcats could really surprise their Big 10 brethren in 2011.
Overrated RB’s
Bryce Brown-Kansas State-There is not a lot to say about Brown at this point except that a lot of publications think he will be the savior of the Kansas State program. That may be true, but in Brown’s one and only season at Tennessee, he was a flop! Brown had 460 yards in his freshman campaign, but 104 of those came in the opener against Western Kentucky! Against ‘Bama, Florida, Auburn, Kentucky and Georgia, Brown had 34 rushes for a paltry 99 yards (2.9ypc). Sorry, but until further notice, Brown is just another struggling RB.
Jeff Demps-Florida-In his three seasons at Florida, the highly recruited Demps has failed to break 1,000 yards in a season, and like Brown, is inconsistent from week to week. Florida fans think his senior season will be his best, but the coaching staff will not be quick to increase his workload is he can’t step it up every week.
Underrated RB’s
Montel Harris-Boston College-While former LB Mark Herzlich and his courageous battle with cancer have been the story line for most stories concerning BC the past couple years, a star has been born at the running back position. Montell Harris has amassed 3,600 yards in three seasons, and could pass Derrick Knight as the schools all time leading rusher by season’s end. Harris will miss the season opener against Northwestern, but will make up ground in the next three games against UCF, Duke and UMass.
Ronnie Hilman-SDSU-The Aztecs are climbing the pyramid in the Mountain West, and the 2010 Freshman All-American RB is a prime reason why. Hillman scorched Air Force and Navy with a combined 419 yards and 5 td’s!! SDSU staff would like to see more consistency, as Hillman also had 6 games under 65 yards or less. As a sophomore, look for Hillman to even out the peaks and valleys and at least match last season’s totals.
Lance Dunbar-North Texas-Another Member of the 1,500 club is North Texas RB Lance Dunbar. The 5’9 203lb wrecking ball had eight 100+ yard games in 2010, including games against Clemson and Kansas State. Did we mention that three of those eight games were 200+ yard performances including 270 yard/3td performance against K-State. New head coach Dan McCarney had a 2,000 yard performer in Troy Davis at Iowa State, and we think Dunbar will be his 2nd in 2011!
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